I really don't think Joan Crawford was box office poison in the mid to late 30's as much as those plot less scripts MGM foisted on her in the production code era were the actual poison. This is a pretty good script, and Crawford does a good job in it.
Crawford plays Jesse Cassidy, a working girl living in poverty on "Hester Street" which seems to be code for an entire neighborhood of poor people. Dad is lazy, on relief, and seems to have given up ever looking for a job if he ever had one in the first place. Mom is sad, resigned to her fate, beat down by a lifetime of poverty. Jesse's little brother is a smart mouth, totally aware of what his dad is and with zero respect for him, probably headed for trouble with the law down the line.
One night after a date with her boyfriend Eddie, Jesse starts to walk up the stairs to her family's tenement flat and the sound of babies crying, of couples arguing, the buzzing hall light just get to her and she begs Eddie to marry her that night - she wants to get away from Hester Street. Eddie does.
In a parallel story, self-made shipping magnate John L. Hennessey (Spencer Tracy) is having labor problems with his employees. They may decide to join a union and call a strike, which perplexes Hennessey since his employees have better wages and benefits than any union could give them. This is probably because Hennessey is from Hester Street himself, and sympathizes with the working man.
Hennessey and Jesse meet by coincidence the night of Jesse's wedding as everybody is celebrating, and Hennessey is instantly attracted to Jesse and her sincerity, but decency keeps him away - she is a bride.
But then Jesse and Hennessey get to know Eddie better and realize he is no better than Jesse's dad - a lifetime loafer who will always blame someone else for his problems rather than the man in the mirror. But nobody can call Eddie stupid. He sees the attraction to Jesse that Hennessey has, and when he treats Jesse like a commodity and suggests that they can get out of their financial rut by her divorcing him, marrying Hennessey, and then divorcing him for a handsome settlement she leaves Eddie.
Several months later Hennessey and Jesse meet again, and Hennessey wants to marry her even though Jesse tells him she does not love him. But in the meantime, Eddie has not wandered far and still wants his "cut" of what he thinks is his idea, and the labor problems that Hennessey blew off are coming to fruition. How will this all turn out? Watch and find out.
I will tell you that Eddie does NOT slip and fall into the ocean and get eaten by a shark. I'm glad of that because I'd feel mighty sorry for the shark.
Great performances all around here, and this is the kind of story that Frank Borzage's direction could always work magic with. Recommended.
Crawford plays Jesse Cassidy, a working girl living in poverty on "Hester Street" which seems to be code for an entire neighborhood of poor people. Dad is lazy, on relief, and seems to have given up ever looking for a job if he ever had one in the first place. Mom is sad, resigned to her fate, beat down by a lifetime of poverty. Jesse's little brother is a smart mouth, totally aware of what his dad is and with zero respect for him, probably headed for trouble with the law down the line.
One night after a date with her boyfriend Eddie, Jesse starts to walk up the stairs to her family's tenement flat and the sound of babies crying, of couples arguing, the buzzing hall light just get to her and she begs Eddie to marry her that night - she wants to get away from Hester Street. Eddie does.
In a parallel story, self-made shipping magnate John L. Hennessey (Spencer Tracy) is having labor problems with his employees. They may decide to join a union and call a strike, which perplexes Hennessey since his employees have better wages and benefits than any union could give them. This is probably because Hennessey is from Hester Street himself, and sympathizes with the working man.
Hennessey and Jesse meet by coincidence the night of Jesse's wedding as everybody is celebrating, and Hennessey is instantly attracted to Jesse and her sincerity, but decency keeps him away - she is a bride.
But then Jesse and Hennessey get to know Eddie better and realize he is no better than Jesse's dad - a lifetime loafer who will always blame someone else for his problems rather than the man in the mirror. But nobody can call Eddie stupid. He sees the attraction to Jesse that Hennessey has, and when he treats Jesse like a commodity and suggests that they can get out of their financial rut by her divorcing him, marrying Hennessey, and then divorcing him for a handsome settlement she leaves Eddie.
Several months later Hennessey and Jesse meet again, and Hennessey wants to marry her even though Jesse tells him she does not love him. But in the meantime, Eddie has not wandered far and still wants his "cut" of what he thinks is his idea, and the labor problems that Hennessey blew off are coming to fruition. How will this all turn out? Watch and find out.
I will tell you that Eddie does NOT slip and fall into the ocean and get eaten by a shark. I'm glad of that because I'd feel mighty sorry for the shark.
Great performances all around here, and this is the kind of story that Frank Borzage's direction could always work magic with. Recommended.